Gunfire and explosions heard in climax to standoff; at least two people killed, according to local media
Heavily-armed Australian police stormed a downtown Sydney cafe early Tuesday following a 16-hour standoff with a gunman who was holding an unknown number of hostages..
Gunfire and explosions accompanied the raid, which came shortly after five or six people were seen fleeing out of the Lindt Chocolate Cafe. Reports suggest there were multiple fatalities. According to Fairfax Media, two were killed including the gunman. Some of the hostages were injured in the course of the ordeal, including a female hostage who was shot in the leg, a hospital official said. At least two others were wheeled out of the cafe on stretchers.
A police spokesman confirmed "the operation is over," but would not release any further details about the gunman or his captives.
Alongside the fleeing hostages, footage also showed authorities apparently administering CPR on at least one unidentified person.
Shortly before the raid, police had identified the hostage-taker as Man Haron Monis, a 50-year-old Iranian-born self-styled sheikh. He has known to police, having previously been charged of sexual assault. He was also found guilty in 2012 of sending hate letters to the families of Australian soldiers killed overseas.
Earlier on Monday, five people — three men followed later by two women wearing aprons bearing the Lindt logo — fled the cafe.
The Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbot, said on Monday that it was unknown if the incident was "politically motivated."
Other basic questions remain unanswered. Police refused to say how many hostages were inside the cafe, what they believed Monis's motives might be, whether he had made any demands, or whether the hostages who fled the cafe escaped or were released. Attention is also likely to turn to how he was able to get hold of a shotgun, given his prior conviction and Australia's tight gun laws.
"I would like to give you as much as I can but right now that is as much as I can," New South Wales (NSW) state police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said. "First and foremost, we have to make sure we do nothing that could in any way jeopardize those still in the building."
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, there were fewer than 30 people being held in the café during the siege.
Scipione said authorities had not confirmed whether the siege was related to terrorism. A black flag — thought to be the same one commonly used by the Syrian rebel group Jabhat Al-Nusra (the Nusra Front), an Al-Qaeda ally — was spotted draped in the café window.
Television footage showed several people with their arms in the air and hands pressed against the glass of the cafe's windows, and two people holding up what appeared to be the black flag with white Arabic writing on it. The incident has raised fears in Australia, which has been on heightened security alert since September, when authorities said they thwarted a plot to snatch a random citizen for a public beheading.
Citing social media posts from hostages, Reuters reported that Monis had asked to speak with Abbott. Australian authorities would confirm only that the he had made demands, and officials have asked the media to not report them.
Hours earlier, Scipione said police had not made direct contact with Monis, did not know his motivation and were not sure how many people were being held inside.
"We have not yet confirmed it is a terrorism-related event," Scipione said.
Speaking to reporters in the nation's capital, Canberra, Abbott said: "We don't know whether this is politically motivated, although obviously there are some indications that it could be."
Abbott said the National Security Committee of Cabinet met to be briefed on the situation.
"The whole point of politically motivated violence is to scare people out of being themselves," Abbott said. "And that's why I would urge all Australians today to go about their business as usual."
Abbott called the incident "deeply concerning," after armed police closed off a part of Martin Place, which is home to the Reserve Bank of Australia and commercial banks, and close to the NSW state parliament.
Seven Network television news staff watched Monis and hostages for hours from a fourth floor window of their Sydney offices, opposite the cafe.
Monis could be seen pacing back and forth past the cafe's four windows. Reporter Chris Reason said the man carried what appeared to be a pump-action shotgun, was unshaven and wore a white shirt and a black cap.
Network staff counted about 15 different faces among hostages forced up against the windows.
"The gunman seems to be sort of rotating these people through these positions on the windows with their hands and faces up against the glass," Reason said in a report from the vantage point. "Just two hours ago when we saw that rush of escapees, we could see from up here in this vantage point the gunman got extremely agitated as he realized those five had got out," he added.
Thousands of workers across Sydney were sent home early and some of the city's major buildings evacuated, including the Opera House, the State Library, Channel Seven, the NSW parliamentary executive offices and criminal courts, and several city legal chambers, according to local media. The U.S. consulate, which is in the cafe area, was also evacuated, according to an embassy spokeswoman.
The Australian National Imams Council, commenting on the siege at a Sydney cafe on Monday, said it "condemns this criminal act unequivocally."
The joint statement with the Grand Mufti of Australia said that "such actions are denounced in part and in whole in Islam," noting they awaited further information about the identity and motivations of the perpetrators.
Australia has been on high alert for attacks by citizens returning from fighting in the Middle East.
Abbott previously responded to U.S. President Barack Obama’s appeal for support in the fight against ISIL by sending fighter jets and military personnel to the Middle East.
In September, the government elevated its terrorism threat level to the second-highest warning, with Abbott saying the increase from “medium” to “high” on a four-tier scale was made on the advice of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization.
At the time, the domestic spy agency’s chief said the terrorist threat level had been rising in Australia over the past year, particularly in recent months, mainly due to Australians joining the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) to fight in Syria and Iraq.
Counterterror law enforcement teams later conducted dozens of raids and made several arrests in Australia's three largest cities — Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
Some Islamic leaders argued that Australia's Muslims, a 500,000 minority in a Christian-majority population of 23 million, are being unfairly targeted. Abbott has denied this.
One man arrested during a series of raids in Sydney was charged with conspiring with an ISIL leader in Syria to behead a random person in downtown Sydney.
ISIL has threatened Australia in the past. In September, one of the group’s spokesmen, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, issued an audio message urging so-called "lone wolf" attacks abroad, specifically mentioning Australia. Adnani told Muslims to kill all "disbelievers," whether civilians or soldiers.
Al Jazeera and wire services
No comments:
Post a Comment